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Monday, August 11, 2014

The Sweetest Pecan and Honey Tart around

I have been gone for a while, but do not think I have forsaken you! I merely had to present my Master's seminar. My heart threatened to explode under the weighing pressure, but I prevailed and now have one less thing to do before I finish this degree. Yay!
Also, there is that other thing which made me quite sad. That messy situation involving those unhappy folks in the Middle East who think the solution to their problems must lie in the transportation of numerous flying metal tubes, which is weird because, after all, it is not the metal tubes that are unhappy. Here is a suggestion for a better solution.

But let's talk about good things. Exciting things! This is meant to be a happy food blog, PEOPLE!

So, about a year ago I had the uttermost honer to be asked by two wonderful and oh-so-unbelievably-talented food bloggers to help with a behind-the-scenes video for their up coming book.

"The Sweet Book"

I was so excited when Efrat and Natalie asked my help, I jumped up and down for several moments and then went back to check my email again to see I wasn't imagining things!!!
I am so happy for them! I've seen them work on it for so long and now this baby is only a few weeks away from mounting the shelves of book stores, nationwide.
If you're really impatient though and want to buy it right now, you can do it through the publisher's site, here (The book is currently available only in Hebrew).

Filming the video was so much fun, I love these two for sharing this experience with me!! Thank you girls!! Especially for all those beet cupcakes, YUM!
Check out the video (preferably in HD):

In celebration of the book, I chose to bring you one of their lovely recipes - pecan and honey tart which, aside for the wonderful taste, is just so darn pretty.
Top with a scoop of ice cream and you're golden.

Method:Prepare the crust: In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, blitz together the flour, cold butter cubes, sugar, vanilla and salt into a crumb-like mix. Add the egg yolk and a tbsp of milk and keep processing only until masses of dough start to form. If it is not coming together, add another tbsp of milk. Press the dough into a flat disk, wrap with a clear plastic sheet and refrigerate for an hour. Spread the dough to a thickness of about 3mm on a well floured surface. Transfer to the tart pan, pierce the bottom of the tart with a fork and refrigerate for another half hour.

Bake the crust: Heat the oven to 175 degree Celsius. Cover the crust with baking parchment and place pie-weights (or just simple dried beans) on it. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove the pie-weights and parchment and continue baking for 10-12 more minutes until the dough starts to golden yet is still quite pale. Let it cool to room temperature.

The filling: In a medium bowl, beat the eggs, corn sirup, muscovado sugar, honey, salt and vanilla into a uniform mixture. Stir in the melted butter. Mix in the chopped pecans.

Heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius. Pour the filling over the half-baked crust and flatten it. Decorate with the additional pecans (see picture). Bake for 13-17 minutes till the filling stabilizes on the sides yet the center is still slightly soft. Cool a bit before serving, preferably with a large scoop of delicious ice cream.

Keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. Best served at room temperature.

Tip: Instead of turning the oven on twice, leave it on after you blind bake the crust and cool the crust quickly with a simple fan. It shouldn't take longer than 10-15 minutes to reach room temperature.

Hi, I made this amazing pie yesterday. But I have two important questions: 1- why was the filling not enough? I mean, I converted the amounts to a 26 baking pan correctly and it was not enough for the crust. 2- why did we have to add milk in the crust? The dough didn't act like a regular short pastry. It was very difficult to work with, even harder than with the short pastry because it was torn apart on all of my work space.. Sorry for the 'article' but it is very important for me to know.

Don't be sorry for the article! I love reading articles ;)I'm sure Efrat and Natalie will be delighted to hear you like their tart !!1- You can see in the pictures that the filling doesn't reach the end of the crust in my tart either. The recipe is an exact copy of the recipe from the book, where it is also visible that the filling doesn't reach the end. I really like it this way, but you can multiply the amount of the filling if you'd like :)2- The original recipe had milk. But it might be interesting to replace each tbsp of milk with an egg yolk, and see if that perhaps makes the texture and handling better... If you do try this, you're welcome to come back and report your findings :)